As an apparatus for cleansing semiconductor substrates one by one, there has been conventionally an apparatus for cleansing a semiconductor substrate by injecting a cleansing solution with application of vibration at high frequency from above the semiconductor substrate while stopping or turning the semiconductor substrate (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 156,314/1999). Thereafter, the semiconductor substrate is drained by centrifugal force while being turned, and then, is dried. Otherwise, after the semiconductor substrate is drained to such an extent as not to allow the solution to drip down on a floor during transportation, the semiconductor substrate is transported from a cleansing chamber to a drying chamber, and then, the drying chamber is tightly closed and reduced in pressure, followed by a drying treatment.
However, the drying only by draining is insufficient. Furthermore, when the semiconductor substrate is transported to the drying chamber after the draining, the semiconductor substrate may be half dried during the transportation, or only minute droplets may remain at the surface of the semiconductor substrate. If the semiconductor substrate is exposed to the atmosphere in this state, an oxide film may be formed at or a floating contamination may adhere to the surface of the semiconductor substrate. Such an oxide film or a contamination may become an inhibiting factor in an etching process thereafter, thereby degrading the characteristics of a semiconductor device.
Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide a cleansing apparatus capable of efficiently cleansing a semiconductor substrate at a low cost and drying the semiconductor substrate after the cleansing treatment while keeping the cleanness.